Package for capped containers



Oct. 6, 1953 w. A. RINGLER PACKAGE FOR CAPPED CONTAINERS Filed Feb. 25, 1950 FIB-.3. v 2 y r INVENTOR. Mum/w A EM GLEE,

ATTORN EYS.

Patented Oct. 6, 1953 PACKAGE FOR CAPPED CONTAINERS William A. Ringler, Wayne, Pa., assignor to The Gardner Board and Carton 00., Middletown, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application February 23, 1950, Serial No. 145,633

The principal object of my invention is the provision of an inexpensive package and carrier for liquid containers, finding its principal usefulness in the merchandising and display of sales units of such containers and in the transportation of the containers from the place of sale to the home of the user.

It is an object of the invention to provide a package and carrier which, while useful for the above purposes and attractive in appearance, is so inexpensive that it may be employed with disposable containers, for example, disposable bottles and cans for beer.

It is an object of my invention to provide a package and carrier using a minimum of paperboard but adapted to hold the containers securely in the individual sales units while permitting ready handling and stacking thereof.

It is an object of the invention to provide a carrier and package capable of being filled and closed in simple operations, economically performed by hand, but capable of ready mechanization, and to provide a new mode of packaging containers, as hereinafter set forth.

These and other objects of the invention, which will later be described or which will be apparent to the skilled worker in the art upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by that construction and arrangement of parts and in that procedure of which I shall now describe certain exemplary embodiments. Reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the paperboard blank from which my carrier is made.

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the blank with containers assembled upon its bottom panel.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are elevational views showing successive stages in the formation of the completed package.

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the filled and closed package.

Figure 7 is a partial transverse sectional view taken along the line 'l! of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a partial longitudinal sectional View taken along the line 88 of Figure 6 and illustrating the formation of the carrying means.

In the light of the main objects of my invention, an ancillary object is the provision of a package and carrier made from a single piece of boxboard of suitable weight and characteristics by conventional cutting and scoring operations readily understood by the skilled worker in the art, the blank requiring no folding and gluing operations on the part of the carrier manufacturer. In use the carrier structure is simply 2 Claims. (Cl. 20665) folded about a sales unit of the containers, placed upon a panel thereof. End portions of the carrier structure are engaged and held in place by the caps on the bottles, cans or other containers, and the engagement is such as not only to hold the containers in assembly with each other, but also to effect and retain closure of the package, all as will hereinafter be more fully described.

To this end I provide a paperboard blank, as illustrated in Figure 1. The blank may be printed as desired, usually prior to the cutting and scoring operations incident to its formation; and since in the completed package only one side of the paperboard blank will be visible, no unprinted areas need be exposed. The blank is of generally rectangular configuration without projections or re-entrant angles, so that a plurality of the blanks may be out without waste from large sheets of paperboard such as are readily handled upon printing and upon cutting and scoring presses. lines of out, while dot-dash lines indicate lines of score.

The blank is so formed as to present centrally a bottom panel I of a size and shape to underlie a desired assembly of the containers. Various assemblies may be produced, and the dimensions v of the bottom panel varied accordingly; but a common sales unit comprises six containers arranged in two rows of three each, and this has been illustrated in my drawings. In indicating that the dimensions of the bottom panel I should be such as to underlie the container assembly, 1'. do not desire to be limited to a bottom panel of the full over-all horizontal dimensions of such an assembly, since it is quite possible within the scope of my invention to make the length of the bottom panel somewhat less than the extreme length of the assembly, and also to make the width of the panel somewhat less than the extreme width of the assembly, especially where the containers have rims or projections adjacent their bottom portions, since these may be accommodated by relieving the side edges of the containers, as by cuts or openings. Such features, however, although they may be incorporated in my structures, do not constitute limitations and are not herein claimed. The length of the bottom panel I, i. e. its dimension transverse of the blank should, however, be great enough to permit an engagement of the top portions hereinafter described with the caps of the outermost containers of the assembly.

Side wall panels 2 and 3 are demarked from the bottom panel respectively by score lines I In Figure 1 solid lines indicate I and 5. Where the containers have tapered neck portions, as is usual both with cans and bottles, it may be found desirable in the final package to provide slantwise disposed portions connecting the side panels and the top. Accordingly, I have shown such portions at 9 and demarked from the side wall panels by score lines H and I2. Top panels l3 and M are articulated to the portions 9 and Ii! along score lines 15 and IS. The top panels may be provided with outer lips I! and I8 articulated to them along score lines I9 and 20. r

In the top panels adjacent the score lines l and I6, I provide openings 2| (inthe top panel l3) and 22 (in the top panel I4), which openings are preferably of a size to pass freely over the caps of the containers respectively adjacent the side wall panels 2 and 3. Adjacent the other top panel score lines 19 and 20, I provide openings 23 and 24 designed to accept the caps of containers in rows respectively nonadjacent the side wall panels 2 and 3. The openings or perforations 23 and 24 are preferably made somewhat smaller than the caps of the containers, and the paperboard surrounding these openings is divided into a series of tabs by a plurality of radial cuts 25 extending outwardly from the openings. When the caps of the containers are passed through these openings, the tabs formed by the cuts just described deflect to permit the passage of the caps through the panels and then engage beneath the edges of the caps forming a lock, as illustrated, for example, at 26 in Figure '7.

I prefer also to provide in the top panels i3 :1

and I4 opposed U-shaped cuts demarking tabs 21, in top panel I3, and 28, in top panel E4. The open ends of the U-shaped'cuts are closed by transverse score lines, as shown, upon which the tabs will bend.

In forming the filled package, the blank, as

illustrated in Figure 2, may be placed printed of the package, those portions of the blank articulated to one Of the side wall panels (for example, the side wall panel 3 as shown in Figure 4), are folded over the top of the assembly. Several actions occur when this is done. The slantwise disposed portion is bent at an angle to the side wall panel 3. The caps 30a of the containers 30 pass through the porforations 22. The perforations 24 are forced over the caps 29a of the containers 29, whereupon the tabs formed by the cuts interlock with the caps 29a, as hereinabove described and as illustrated at 26 in Figure 7. The top panel M has now been folded down into a horizontal plane.

Finally, the articulated portions attached to the opposite side wall panel, for example, the panel 2, are folded over. A similar series of actions occur. The portion 9 is deflected at an angle to the side wall panel 2, generally following the shoulders of the containers and deflecting downwardly the outer lip l8 of the first folded top wall portion if this lip has not previously been deflected. The caps 29a of the containers 29 pass through the perforations 2i, and the caps 30a of the containers 30 are forced through the perforations 23, the tabs formed by the cuts 4 25 looking beneath the caps 30a, as also illustrated at 26 in Figure '7. The outer lip I1 is deflected as shown into substantial parallelism with the portion [0.

The package is now locked in closed position. The containers 29 and 30 are securely held within the package by reason of the locks effected by the tabs against the container caps'i The engagement is snug so that the cans or other containers do not tend to rattle against each other in the package; and the-locking action aforesaid prevents loss of the containers through the open ends of the package. It will be observed that each top panel engages the necks of containers in all rows so that the described engagement not only serves to hold the package in closed condition, but-to hold the rows of containers in assembled condition as respects each other.

The end appearance of the package will be appreciated from'Figure 5 andthe top appearance thereof from Figure 6. package are formed by the side wall panels '2 and 3 which may be attractively printed. The

over-all appearance of the package is pleasing; the packages are adapted for merchandising display, and they may readily be *stacked' one upon the other for storage and display purposes.

The caps of the containers are exposed, which is a convenience in identification especially in:

those states where special tax indicia are associated with the caps. tainers are exposed through the open ends of the package, lending further attractiveness to the display.

When a package of the containers is purchased,

it is capable of being carried readily by the purchaser if so desired. To provide an engagement means for the purpose, the tabs 21 and 28, which have been brought into overlying juxtapositionby the folding of the top panels I4 and I3 as described, are depressed by the fingers, and are folded under and inwardly, as shown in Figure 8. This provides a pair of openings into which the forefinger and thumb of the purchaser may be inserted for carrying purposes, the folded edges of the board adjacent the tab score lines relieving strain on the fingers.

As indicated above, the carrier permits ready 1 mechanization of the package forming operations.

cated Within a cage or between spaced parallel elements serving to maintain the erection of the' side wall panels 2 and 3, whereupon the assembly of containers may be placed upon the bottom panel Thereupon mechanically actuated folding elements, perforated to accept the caps of disposable cans or other containers without 'addmg significantly to the cost of the merchandise.

Having thus described my invention in an exemplary embodiment, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A package consisting of an assembly of The sides of the The labels of the con- By way of example, the blank folded tothe U-shape, illustrated in Figure 3, may be 10- capped containers and a paperboard structure for surrounding the said assembly of containers, said paperboard structure comprising an elongated blank scored transversely to provide a substantially centrally disposed bottom panel, side wall panels articulated to the outer edges of said bottom panel and extending upwardly therefrom, said assembly of containers being arranged in rows supported on said bottom panel with the rows of containers extending parallel to the said side wall panels, and top wall panels articulated to the upper edges of said side wall panels and extending inwardly over the said rows of containers, said top wall panels each having a row of perforations therein in alignment with the caps of the containers in the rows adjacent the side wall panels with which the said top wall panels are respectively associated, said perforations being of a size to pass freely over the caps of the containers in the said adjacent rows, and an additional row of perforations in each of said top wall panels in alignment with the caps of containers in a non-adjacent row and of a size requiring them to be forced over the caps of the containers in the said non-adjacent rows, said last mentioned perforations only having radially extending cuts forming locking tabs coasting with the lower edges of said caps to secure said top wall panels in the closed condition, and aligned pairs of tabs in said top wall panels intermediate said rows of perforations forming finger gripping openings for the transportation of said package.

2. A package consisting of an assembly of capped containers and a paperboard structure for surrounding the said assembly of containers, said containers having sloping shoulders, said paperboard structure comprising an elongated blank scored transversely to provide a substantially centrally disposed bottom panel, side wall panels articulated to the outer edges of said bottom panel and extending upwardly therefrom, said assembly of containers being arranged in rows supported on said bottom panel with the rows of containers extending parallel to the said side wall panels, top wall panels extending inwardly over the tops of the said containers, and intermediate panels connecting said top wall panels and said side wall panels, said intermediate panels being disposed lengthwise in substantial conformity to the sloping shoulders of the containers, said top Wall panels each having a row of perforations therein in alignment with the caps of the containers in the rows adjacent the side wall panels with which the said top wall panels are respectively associated, said perforations being of a size to pass freely over the caps of the containers in the said adjacent rows, and an additional row of perforations in each of said top wall panels in alignment with the caps of containers in a non-adjacent row and of a size requiring them to be forced over the caps of the containers in the said non-adjacent rows, said last mentioned perforations only having radially extending cuts forming locking tabs coacting with the lower edges of said caps to secure said top wall panels in the closed condition, and aligned pairs of tabs in said top wall panels intermediate the said rows of perforations forming finger gripping openings for the transportation of said package.

WILLIAM A. RINGLER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

